On the 13th of November, we visited the Waldpiraten Camp in Boxberg. If you recall, earlier this school year we had a Waldpiraten run, in which the whole school was involved.

We, students and teachers, ran under the hot sun for a few hours and donated money for each lap. Turns out, we collected 2805.38 Euros , the largest sum ever raised by the H.I.S community. The money was donated to the Waldpiraten Camp as H.I.S. has done so for years.

Sonja Müller, the leader of the camp, also gave us a tour of the camp and was astounded by the amount of contributions and was curious to know more about our yearly run to support their organization.

The Waldpiraten Camp is a place where children who are diagnosed with cancer or have disabilities can come together, share their experiences, and have a good time. A certain number of children join the nine day camps throughout the year, however mainly during summer months. They also have the chance to bring their relatives on specific weekends. The whole camp operates on government subsidies and donations similar to the one our school gave. The money we donated, according to Sonja Mueller (one of the social education workers at the camp), can pay the full stay for two children at the camp.

Along with giving our collections of donations, we also got a tour of the camp. Here are a few insights of the camp. The camp has a variety of facilities including:

• Theater room/stage
• Art room 
• Color coded huts
• Playroom
• Playground
• Football field
• Cafeteria
• Adventure park
• Fire pits
• Large pizza/bread oven

The organization emphasizes that all children taking part in the camp will be able to share the same experiences, as the different activities they provide have been adjusted to all conditions. For example, at the camp they have an adventure park in the trees where all the children can take part and climb along the obstacles. Certain obstacles that attach to platforms are constructed in a way that children in a wheelchair can also have the chance to participate and experience being high up in the trees. Sonja Müller, told us that there are also other exercises they perform on a rock climbing section, where the children that can see have to cover their eyes with a blindfold and then try to climb up the wall. It is important for some of those in the camp that are not blind to understand how difficult it is to do certain activities and also have the chance to experience it for themselves. By the end of their camp, the children end their exciting nine days with a disco party, which they all love to take part in.

 The camp, organization, and facility is truly another home for the children, that allows them to feel comfortable and at the same time, develop new skills through a variety of activities.

Thank you, H.I.S. community, for being “dedicated to making a difference” over the years by supporting the Waldpiraten organization and giving opportunities for children to go to the camp.

text: Kyra & Pritha

What are my interests and my skills? What do I want to do as service for CAS?

Together with their CAS Co-ordinator, Frau Kress, Grade 11 students went off to a workshop at the Freiwilligenagentur Heidelberg (Agency for volunteers) on Monday. The Freiwilligenagentur is an agency which brings together possibilities for community work in Heidelberg and people who want to do voluntary work. This organization works together with 200 different institutions in Heidelberg, and the current offers and needs are listed on an internet portal. The aim of the CAS workshop was, on the one hand, to inform the students about the work of this organization. On the other hand, the students were able to develop their “social profiles.”

The students worked in groups and presented their ideas and wishes. Frau Ebeling, who conducted the workshop, evaluated the student presentations and made some suggestions for possible voluntary activities in Heidelberg. The workshop was in German, therefore a lot of translation work was done by the native speakers. It was a long day with lots of information, but it is quite obvious that this is a great resource for the service component of CAS. Thanks to Mrs. Ebeling and the Freiwilligenagentur team for this great opportunity!

I thought that the workshop was extremely helpful as we learned about places in Heidelberg where we can do volunteering work that we are interested about. (Inigo)

I believe it was a positive experience in which we learned more about the things we like and where we can pursue our passions as part of the DP curriculum. (Ana)

photos: BK